Ninja Girl Ko! Indie Special #1-2 and Video Girl Ai Vol. 15

Today's reviews are all about the kind of girls shonen manga fantasizes having around the house - inexplicably loyal to the passive male whom they happen to share the same roof.

Ninja Girl Ko! Indie Special #1-2
by Marco Dimaano, Kriss Sison

Ninja Girl Ko! began in the pages of the original pinoy manga anthology Mangaholix in 2007. With that magazine no longer an ongoing concern (as far as I can tell. Their website hasn't been updated lately), series creator Marco Dimaano has decided to go the self-publishing route, resulting in a big drop in production values. Succeeding the previous glossily colored work, NGK lives on as a pair of cheaply-printed minis. Ironically, this change brings the comic much closer to the look and feel of Japanese manga magazines.

NGK takes its cues from traditional shonen tropes from the Eighties. Filipino teenager Anton Alcazaren wanders into the woods during a school excursion, where he runs into Michiko Yamashita, a beautiful kunoichi and surviving daughter of a WWII-era Japanese soldier. At first enraging her with his patented clumsiness, he manages to earn her loyalty by saving her life. Michiko follows Anton back to Manila and becomes his bodyguard/housekeeper. But it isn't long before her presence attracts the unwelcome attention of a shadowy nativist organization called The Kamao. While the premise sounds like the setup to a domestic farce along the lines of Ranma 1/2 or Tenchi Muyo, both the artwork and preference for combat hews closer to later series like Naruto and Bleach.

The story has not yet gotten too far, so the two indie specials are a suitable enough jumping on point for new readers. Prior events are summarized and things pick up where they left of. In order to pay to replace a previously wrecked bike, Michiko enters an underground cage-fighting tournament. She easily thrashes the competition, but is then attacked by an equally skilled escrimador. Naturally, she's also a cute teenage girl. Named Maya Luna, she's later revealed to be working for The Kamao. Much of these two issues is devoted to building her up as a worthy martial arts rival to Michiko. And she's contrasted as the short-haired, genki girl equivalent to Michiko's more reserved personality.

The change in format seems to have freed-up series artist Kriss Sison. He's more willing to break with the grid and utilize a more Japanese style of layout. The results are more elaborately staged fights scenes accompanied by more "decompressed" storytelling. And the computer coloring of the past is now replaced by more straightforward stippling. The upshot though is that the series is now paced like mainstream shonen manga, while subject to the irregular release schedule of an indie comic. This could get much more irritating with the passage of time.

Video Girl Ai Vol. 15
by Masakazu Katsura

Any knowledgeable fan who's read Video Girl Ai could have predicted that nonentity/wish fulfillment character Yota Moteuchi would end up with magical helper Ai Amano. That's how the formula goes. How the story arrives at that endpoint is what attracts the reader to a particular series. Masakazu Katsura accomplishes this through a mixture of tortuous personal growth and shameless fan service. Characters are often expressing their niggling insecurities through extended monologues. Then the scene suddenly shifts to someone staring at some cute girl's ass. The pain and suffering isn't always confined to people's headspaces. There are scenes involving actual torture, assault, and attempted rape. Then there's the fantasy elements embodied in Ai. Unlike other would-be magical girlfriends, she exudes spunk. Her tomboyish behavior doesn't make her immediately attractive to Yota, so it's a slight subversion when he begins to favor her over the more traditionally feminine love interest. Not that this hasn't been seen before in romantic comedies were the leads start out hating each other before they fall in love at the end. However, the meaning of Ai's very existence is tied to getting Yota a girlfriend. So when she begins to develop feelings for him, her mission is not only deemed a failure, her life becomes imperiled as well.

The saga of Yota and Ai lasts for an emotionally-laden thirteen volumes. But rather than ending there, the last two volumes of the series feature side stories involving a different cast of characters. I skipped reading Vol. 14, which forms the first part of "Len's Story". I didn't really find that I missed much, as the it mirrors a lot of the main narrative. Hiromu Taguchi is a Yota version 2.0, and is helped by new Video Girl Len Momono, whose personality and appearance is also very similar to Ai's. The main difference is that the emotional issues Hiromu faces are resolved a lot more quickly and with less fuss. The last volume apparently ended with Hiromu thrown into turmoil over rumors about his love interest Ayumi Shirakawa. Vol. 15 starts with Len berating Hiromu for thinking less of Ayumi just because she might not conform to his virginal fantasy of her. It's very candid for a shonen romance. But hey, it turns out that the rumors are lies being spread by Aumi's conniving ex-boyfriend. The ex is confronted. Problem solved. When Hiromu starts to take Ayumi for granted, triggering the couple's first big fight, Len tells him to rediscover what he loves about her through art. Len is a repository of practical dating advice, embodied in a cheerful and assertive teenage girl. It's a more lighthearted approach. But the relative brevity of "Len's Story"  doesn't allow much room for its cast to establish a stronger separate identity from the main cast.

The last story "Video Girl" is actually an early prototype for the entire series. The art is a lot less refined, the visual gags are a bit more obvious, the humor tends towards slapstick, and the characters' personalities are portrayed in broader strokes. Compared to what came after, it fares badly. So it's more of a curiosity than integral reading material.

Schadenfreude, Post-Election Edition

It's Revenge of the Nerds, for 2012.

I should also mention that orc assassin Santiaga, a.k.a. Colleen Lachowicz has won in her election. Don't mess with WoW geeks. They will crush you.

While (some) white people mourn, Key & Peele celebrate.

Yes, it's unseemly to gloat. Like 99% unseemly. Some people can't help it.

Webcomic: America: Elect!

Go to: The Guardian, by Richard Adams and Erin McCann

Cartoonist Endorsement

Go to: Overcompensating by Jeffrey Rowland

Futile

Occupy Comics

Well, it [the Occupy Movement] should have gone on. It should have built and built. It was a great start that didn’t go anywhere, and that’s also tragic — really tragic. It wasn’t the first massive left-wing thing we have seen in a long time because the progressive people signing up for Obama was a massive thing that also failed. Before that, the protests in Seattle in ’99 — people were enthusiastic about that, and that fizzled, too. There’s a larger problem here about why the left can’t get off the ground, take off, failure to launch…  

 ...There’s a bunch of different problems, but one of the problems is that these movements always — somehow — get sucked into the academy. They get taken over by people who are absolutely determined to not speak in a way that is comprehensible to average Americans. In fact, [these are] people who have enormous contempt for average Americans. The whole idea of the left is about empowering average people, and you can’t do that if you despise them. 

- Tom Frank on the irrelevance of the modern Left

Social Media: Kate Beaton on Sandy

Go to: Kate Beaton's Twitter

Kerry Callen animates Jack Kirby

Go to: May Contain Content by Kerry Callen to see these Fantastic Four panels in motion (via Mark Kardwell)

Super Endorsements for 2012

Go to: Every Day is Like Wednesday by J. Caleb Mozzocco

I probably should also mention Joss Whedon's backhanded endorsement of Mitt Romney, since it's been making the rounds on all the comics blogs. Better brush up on your parkour, just in case.

Komikon 2012

The Philippine comic industry's largest flea market held its annual Fall event yesterday. I didn't plan to attend, but was able to drop by during the morning rush. I didn't stay long, didn't purchase much, or take many photos, So I don't have much to say. Komikon was held at the Bayanihan Center again, and I noticed some changes to the event this year. Here are a few hasty observations:

Komikon has always had problems facilitating smooth foot traffic, even in the Bayanihan Center. The exhibitor tables are placed too close together. This year, they tried to alleviate some of this by exiling some of their exhibitors to the smaller conference rooms, namely the Indie Tiangge (Indie Comics) and Komiks Kalye (Artists Alley) sections. And the event still felt like it was at capacity.

I still don't see the point of Komiks Kalye, other than to sell pricey sketches. See my comments from last year.

Seriously, every nook and cranny of the building was being used for something. A whole bunch of local booksellers were crowded in the lobby, just outside the entrance to the main hall, next to the food vendors. I felt pretty bad for them.

Then there was a makeshift studio set up for attendees to pose as if they're characters on a comic book cover. Apparently there was some contest organized between the convention and the photo studio. Not sure about the point of that either.

They skimped on printing an event guidebook this year, or I didn't receive one. I did notice that they were handing out an official tote bag, free to the first one hundred attendees. 100 PHP for everyone else. No way was I paying for that.

The one thing I regret not buying was the Kate Beaton book. What can I say? Poverty sucks.

On to the photos. I saw the usual mixture of familiar faces and ambitious newcomers hawking their minis and graphic novels. I was unable to label the exhibitors for this year. But if you're one of the people pictured below, drop me a line and I'll identify you in this post.

Webcomic: His Face All Red

Go to: Emily Carroll (via Lauren Davis)

The best time to be alive

Go to: SuperMutant Magic Academy by Jillian Tamaki

My favorite character of this cartoon

Undeveloped pictures are full of potential

Go to: Sheldon by Dave Kellett

I miss film sometimes. Lately, I've been missing it more.

Today is Women of Wonder Day

By Lynne Yoshii

Go to: Women of Wonder Day 2012 by Andy Mangels et al. (via JK  Parkin)

Womanthology: Space #1, Happy! #1, A Fine and Private Place #1

Womanthology: Space #1

by Bonnie Burton, Sandy King Carpenter, Alison Ross, Stephanie Hans, Ming Doyle, Stacie Ponder, Jessica Hickman, Rachel Deering, Tanja Wooten, Stephanie Hans, Ming Doyle, Jordie Bellarie, Stacie Ponder

Anthology projects tend to be a mixed bag, and this is especially true when the contributors have a small page count to work with. Sophomore outing Womanthology: Space is no exception. Most of the five stories featured don't quite succeed in mastering this most stringent of comic formats.

The opening story "Waiting for Mr. Roboto" by Bonnie Burton and Jessica Hickman is pretty disappointing. An overlong gag about an alien waitress working at a space diner run by robots, hoping to be swept off her feet by a handsome scoundrel. The lackasaisical pacing doesn't quite bring the punchline home, and Hickman's artwork is more stiff than cute.

Similar issues are found in "Dead Again," by Sandy King Carpenter and Tanja Wooten. A gothic horror set in a derelict space station. The tale of a man haunted by the ghost of the woman he loves is supposed to pack emotional punch, but struggles to tell a fuller story while working against the limited page count. It does have some lovely panels drawn in a rough style by Wooden.

"Scaling Heaven" by Alison Ross and Stephanie Hans resolves the issue by telling what could be described as the opening to a longer political saga. Portraying a new Space Race between China and the United States to place the first woman on the moon, the story focuses on the parallel preparations of the two women protagonists as a microcosm of the larger geopolitical conflict. But more than that, the imagery and speech patterns nostalgically evokes the spirit of exploration found in the old Space Race.

The anthology finishes with a pair of two-pagers.The first of them, "The Adventures of Princess Plutonia" by Ming Doyle, is an inversion of the classic space opera trope in which the handsome hero rescues the alien princess. The familiar subject is complimented by the retro-stylings of Doyle's art and Jordie Bellaire's colors. This pared down story can be thought of as the Sunday edition of an ongoing newspaper cartoon strip.

The same could be said of "Space Girls" by Stacie Ponder. A homage/parody of Star Trek and similar shows, the story has barely begun before it cuts off. Cuter than this comic's opening act, but still a somewhat weak bookend to the anthology.

Happy! #1

by Grant Morrison, Darick Robertson, Richard P. Clark, Simon Bowland, Michael Allred

Grant Morrison's latest project Happy! could be described as crime fiction meets fantasy. It could be compared to concurrent series Fatale, but the latter's fantasy elements are closer to classic horror, while those of the former come from children's television. Nicholas Sax is a former police detective turned mob hitman. And he's reviled on both sides of the law. The story opens with two mob members sent out to eliminate Sax. Sax survives, but now he's wanted by both the cops and the mob for in formation he doesn't actually have. He evades capture with the help of a small talking, flying blue cartoon unicorn invisible to everyone but him. Is he hallucinating, like the hero of Joe the Barbarian?

This is a strange comic, not just for its premise. The crime elements are a departure from Morrison's more well known work with sci-fi and capes. His portrayal of the criminal underworld is harsh with its attendant violence and non-stop swearing. Sax is a completely unsympathetic character. So it's odd to have him suddenly communicating with an adorable cartoon animal like he's starring in an edgier version of a Disney Studios movie. It's hard to say if the eventual payoff will be worth the story. But it's interesting to see that this is territory Morrison chose to explore when working on creator-owned comics.

(I admit that I was also thrown by the comic using the same title to the Naoki Urasawa manga)

A Fine and Private Place #1

by Peter Gillis, Eduardo Francisco, Priscilla Tramontano, Shawn Lee
Original story by Peter S. Beagle

A general rule of thumb of mine is that comic book adaptations of novels will invariably be compromised from having to translate the original prose into the medium's word/image mix. I haven't read the original A Fine and Private Place novel. But this nonetheless seems to be a fairly streamlined and smooth adaptation of the source material. The prose that does survive in comic book form is still the main draw.  Eduardo Francisco's art is straightforward and doesn't get n the way of the story. But I'm not sure if it's enough of a draw to recommend it over the novel.

The comic is dominated by dialogue. Jonathan Rebeck is a man who secretly squats in a cemetery mausoleum. He normally shuns human contact, but somehow can communicate with the cemetery's ravens and the ghosts of the recently deceased. The comic's centerpiece is a conversation between him and a dead young man who was poisoned by his wife, which is interrupted by a widow visiting her husband's grave. Rebneck makes for an intriguing individual, willing to listen to anyone despite his unusual living circumstances. The comic book version strangely resembles Jack Kirby. If the reader enjoys quiet introspection about existential questions, this comic is worth the read. But it probably will be most appreciated by fans of the original work.

Bad Television: Doomsday Preppers

Welcoming The Apocalypse

I've been following National Geographic's new TV series Doomsday Preppers, in which each episode is divided into 15 minute segments profiling a different prepper household. It's a bit of a guilty pleasure. I know next to nothing about this subculture, but I'm going to assume that the people the series highlights are at the far end of the prepper spectrum. It's one thing to prepare for the occasional natural disaster, home invasion, or extended period of unemployment. But as the title states, these people are waiting for the end of the world.

And for almost everyone of them, it's a question of when, not if, the world will end. Every segment begins with the subjects stating the particular scenario they're prepping for, which naturally comes across as myopic. The likelihood of the various scenarios range from "possible but unlikely" to near-impossible to "hard to be sure without more data" to "you're paranoid and need help". But the thing about obsessing about the apocalypse is that you might end up looking forward to it. Or at least looking forward to thriving from it. There's more than a hint of glee in many of the interviewees as they envision themselves and their (mainly nuclear) families safely tucked away while the rest of society goes to hell in a handbasket. And for some of them, this may be more than a figure of speech. While the series remains coy about discussing their political views and religious beliefs, it's easy enough to infer a subtext. Most of the preppers are Caucasians who think that social collapse is inevitable, whatever their preferred catalyst: EMP pulse, thermonuclear war, supervolcano, global pandemic, hyperinflation. It all leads to the same thing, and they want to be counted among the chosen few, not just another benighted "victim". Not surprisingly for this "us vs. them" mode of thinking, a lot of preppers are armed to the teeth and trained in hand-to-hand combat. It's almost like they're chomping at the bit for the day when they can unload hot lead on someone for merely stepping on their lawn. The machismo can mask an irrational dread for an America that has lost its way but which could be fixed in the coming purge.* One married couple practices navigating their home in the dark and accessing their hidden caches of firearms like some TV SWAT team. The wife is so proud of her stockpiles of gourmet food that she boasts she'll be the only one who'll be needing to shed a few pounds in the post-Apocalyptic world. Another man accidentally blows off his thumb with his gun during a training exercise with his two boys in the desert. Good thing the camera crew was there that day, or he'd still be missing his entire digit. Another household wants to turn their two docile pet German Shepherds into attack dogs. They watch a demonstration of a real attack dog let loose on a simulated attacker, who's unfortunately cast as African American.**

The show does hint that the prepper community might be a bit more varied than the usual parade of white male, rugged individualist, anti-government, antisocial, trigger-happy paramilitary types.** One suburban housewife seems to have taken her neat-freak tendencies up a notch as she gets set for a global pandemic. She cajoles her unwilling family into routine emergency drills and distributes medical kits to her neighbors. On one such housecall, She terrifies an elderly couple who've probably never even heard of a pandemic. Unlike most of the preppers on the show, she plans to stay where she is to help her community rather than evacuate to a more secure location.

In another segment, a New England resident optimistically foresees the collapse of society leading to a return to a more agrarian way of life. She eschews violence in favor of communitarianism. "…our security comes not from stockpiling weapons but from having a community that respects each other, supports each other, and we have each others’ backs.” A like-minded neighbor of hers concurs, stating that if anyone actually threatens him, he will feed them and charm them, and if necessary, poison them. Uh, right. Good luck with that.****

Ignoring the exultant doomsaying, there's a lot of individual ingenuity at work. Everything from the proper stockpiling of food, alternative fuels and modes of transportation, building a secure and comfortable bunker, proper quarantine protocols, protection from radiation, to the proper way to grow crops and raise animals. Before watching the show, it never occurred to me that seeds could come in handy as a useful barter item. At the end of each segment, the show's off-camera "experts" assess the prepper's achievements and point out where there is room for improvement. I'm not qualified to judge the practicality of any of these efforts, but I get the impression that they're being measured against some ultimate version of the prepper's chosen doomsday scenario. These experts are always quick to point out when the interviewee has less than two years worth of food and water, or no proper "bug out" plan. This sage advice is ultimately undermined when the program's voice-over narrator admits to the audience (but not to the preppers' faces) of the extremely low probability of the envisioned events ever happening.*****

Like a lot of shows of this type (e.g. The Colony) Doomsday Preppers is basically there to enable their subjects' end-of-the-world fantasies. It's an addictive but exploitative format. And for all I know, partially staged to enhance its entertainment value. What I can say is that the series portrays the preppers having given up on society to the point where most are willing to hole up in an underground bunker for years if necessary. I can't help but suspect that if the collapse of civilization were to actually take place, most of them would eventually be driven batty or worse by their self-imposed isolation. Assuming that it's technically feasible, I'd rather take my chance with these guys.

And what's the point in revealing to the TV audience that they might even possess hidden supplies of food and weapons?
____
* Update 2012/12/12 - It's telling of their collective viewpoint that while many of the preppers believed in some form of socio-economic collapse preceded by government failure, almost no one was worried about realistic climate change scenarios.

** Update 2012/12/05 - The only African American prepper (or nonwhite prepper) shown so far is a New York City fireman, whose fear of a possible eruption of the Yellowstone Supervolcano may, or may not be, related to the traumatic experiences of 9/11.

*** Update 2012/10/23 -  The creepiest example yet is the Héctor Elizondo lookalike who's trained his personal commando-style squad made up of impressionable teenagers. Does he recruit them from orphanages, or are they supposed to abandon their respective families when the time comes?

**** Update 2012/10/22 - In a recent episode, one woman is shown prepping not so much for the end of civilization, but for the day the Federal Government declares martial law. This is a typical fantasy of the far-right. But unlike those who head for the hills, she preps on the side while living like a normal single person in an urban setting, all the while studying towards a business degree. Judging from the facial expressions of the members of her study group when she first reveals, and then attempts to recruit into her efforts, they were largely unaware of the true extent of her prepping.

And there's the married hippie couple who've converted an abandoned intercontinental ballistic missile silo into the most spacious and coziest (not to mention nuclear strike impregnable) home, complete with a jacuzzi. Meanwhile, a real estate developer is turning his silo into underground luxury condos, to be sold to preppers who want to live out the apocalypse in style.

***** Update 2012/12/05 - To be honest, a lot of Nat Geo's programming likes to employ this cheap shot in order to play it both ways. First they titillate you, then they chastise you for buying into the message they just used on you.

Black Lagoon Vol. 7

It's been awhile since I read the last volume of Black Lagoon, which ended with a bang. Killer maid Roberta had just arrived in Roanapur, giving everyone fits. Then another maid shows up and starts a firefight at the Lagoon Traders favorite bar. This volume concludes the battle in typical over-the-top fashion i.e. the bar is razed to the ground yet again. The Columbians show up, and it becomes a contest about who can wield the bigger gun. Guess who wins? But once the fight ends, the story gets bogged down with massive amounts of exposition. Part of it is to fill in necessary background information, and the other part is to outline how everyone else is struggling to figure out what to do next.

This is Rei Hiroe's most ambitious story arc to date. And this volume is pretty much about assembling the pieces involved. Every crime organization starts to debate amongst themselves and with each other on how to proceed. Garcia Lovelace and his servant Fabiola (the second kick-butt maid) have come to town to retrieve Roberta, who has gone rogue. And we learn that Roberta intends to start a bloodbath that will involve the American Special Forces. That has everyone worried. Will Roanapur still be a haven for thieves once they get involved? Will there even be a city left standing after this is all over? And guess who among the Black Lagoon crew has to stick his neck out to help Garcia?

Since the majority of the players seem to be constantly engaged in a pissing contest, the clipped tough-guy talk can get pretty monotonous, as well as sometimes hard to follow. Some of this dialogue can go on for a bit too long, so it's actually a relief when the scene breaks to show a flashback of Roberta torturing her way through the story before arriving at Roanapur. Her quest is slowly driving her towards insanity. But the emotional centerpiece as always is between Rock and Revy. While the two are still at odds over the former's altruistic behavior, there'a been a gradual shift in their partnership. Revy's body language suggests that she's a bit more tentative, while Rock has adopted a slightly tougher exterior. The climax is when he describes himself as a bullet, while Revy is the gun needed to realize his deadly potential. This crass metaphor feels rather odd coming out of Rock's mouth.

In the end this is a lot of slow buildup with no accompanying relief. So I look forward to some more mayhem and violence in the next volume. In other words, I want Fabiola, Revy and Roberta to blow stuff up.

Webcomic: What Characters in the Alphabet Originally Repersented

Go to: The Rumpus, by Jason Novak (via Lauren Davis)

Cover Illustration: Ms. 40th Anniversary

Go to: Ms. Magazine, by Michael and Laura Allred (via Kevin Melrose)

I've always felt a little ambivalent towards Ms. Magazine's original cover portrayal of Wonder Woman as a rampaging fifty-foot giantess, and this tribute doesn't completely assuage those feelings (for example, why is she trying so hard to crush the women in the foreground?). But I've liked Allred's retro interpretation of her since MAC, and of the DC universe in Solo. It's clearly got more in common with the Lynda Carter version of the character than the New 52 Wondy currently being drawn by Cliff Chiang, which I also like.

Webcomic: Nothing Can Possibly Go Wrong

Go to: Nothing Can Possibly Go Wrong by Prudence Shen and Faith Erin Hicks

Manananggal

Go to: what things do, by Michael DeForge (via Tom Spurgeon)

More NonSense: Zero Month

If you recall the bygone summer of 2011, you may remember that I was optimistic -- though cautiously so -- about DC's New 52. The new creative teams and continuity freedom allowed with the relaunch provided some hope that the turgid superhero universe inhabited by Superman, Blue Devil, Porcupine Pete, Geo-Force, and Batgirl would be reborn into something more vibrant. Creators could all all do their own powerful versions of these characters. We could have seen a line-wide effort that would match the continuity-free heights of "All-Star Superman" or "Batman: Year One," or if not that, then at least we would get a line-wide equivalent of the confident streamlining and rebranding that came with Geoff Johns's earlier-last-decade revamp of "Green Lantern." - Timothy Callahan

Really? In light of all of DC's multiple line-wide relaunches and where they eventually ended up? That's not just being cautiously optimistic. That's desperately hoping that an already overused top-bottom approach will still yield even greater rewards in individual creativity.

A year latter, and Timothy deems only three of the initial fifty two titles worth following. His assessment of Zero Month is just as sobering:

So there you have it. Nine good-to-really-good comics in a stack of 54. And only two that I would actually recommend to anyone who wasn't already heavily into the DC catalog. (emphasis mine)

Chris Sims doesn't find the attempted gang-rape in Sword of Sorcery #0 to be very well written, or appropriate to the the title:

The more I thought about it, though, the more infuriating it was, and a large part of it was that this was the last book where I expected it to crop up yet again. As goofy and fannish as it may seem, I feel like they suckered me into getting excited about it, presenting it as a genuine attempt to draw in new readers and experiment with genres that they hadn't tried for a while. Instead, it's just the same thing they always do. They have once again shown themselves to be the Lucy Van Pelt of rape comics, pulling that football away just as soon as you hand over four bucks for the privilege of trusting them not to.

Sword of Sorcery was the one title I was looking forward to reading  J. Caleb Mozzocco has his own reaction. Read the comments that follow.

David Brothers and J. Caleb Mozzocco rip into the sycophantic Laura Sneddon article on Grant Morrison.

Speaking of Morrison, Greg Rucka was set to write Wonder Woman: Earth One before he was kicked off the project to make room for the Scot. That was too much for him. And thus he became the latest in a line of high-profile creators to cut their ties with DC.

Geoff Johns is one of the architects of the New 52. Matthew Brady is here to tell you that his Green Lantern comics are pure garbage.

Nagraj Rules!

Ah, the Nineties. Remember the massive shoulder pads? And Stan Lee, what a shyster.

Hail to the King, Jack Kirby.

Heidi MacDonald on why DC and Marvel consistently fail to show much interest in reaching beyond their man-child targeted demographic.